Thursday, January 12, 2012

Conflicting accounts are beginning to get media attention about a group of possibly hundreds of workers at a plant in China who threatened to commit mass suicide over a pay dispute. Workers for Foxconn - which makes parts for the Xbox, iPhone, iPad, Kindle, Wii, and the PS3 - apparently took to the roof of one of the company dormitories and made the threat.

A report via Kotaku says the event followed an employee request for a raise, but were told they could either keep their jobs with no increase or quit and get severance pay. Other reports say the company told the employees their Xbox production line was being shut down and some would be transferred and the rest simply fired. As for the number of those who made the suicide threat, reports range from a few dozen to as many as 300. (More pictures here.)

"Microsoft is one of many companies that contracts with Foxconn to
manufacture hardware. Upon learning of the labor protest in Wuhan, we
immediately conducted an independent investigation of this issue.

After talking with workers and management, it is our understanding
that the worker protest was related to staffing assignments and transfer
policies, not working conditions. Due to regular production
adjustments, Foxconn offered the workers the option of being transferred
to alternative production lines or resigning and receiving all salary
and bonuses due, according to length of service. After the protest, the
majority of workers chose to return to work. A smaller portion of those
employees elected to resign.

Microsoft takes working conditions in the factories that manufacture
its products very seriously. We have a stringent Vendor Code of Conduct
that spells out our expectations, and we monitor working conditions
closely on an ongoing basis and address issues as they emerge. Microsoft
is committed to the fair treatment and safety of workers employed by
our vendors and to ensuring conformance with Microsoft policy."

"Like the HD video cameras now included in the livestreamers’ cellphones,
aerial surveillance drones have progressed from ultra-expensive
professional gear to impulse-buy items. What was once in the Pentagon
budget is now at Toys “R” Us – in a simple form, at least.
---
"Introduced in 2010, the one-pound styrofoam craft has four rotors and a
plethora of sensors to keep it stable and navigable. In some ways, it
resembles an iPhone, with accelerometers and a gyroscope to measure
movement and location, for example. Parrot says that it can fly 50 feet
high, up to 11 miles per hour and stay aloft for about 12 minutes on a
charge.

"Built-in Wi-Fi allows control from an iPhone or Android phone. The
Wi-Fi also beams back moderate-resolution (640-by-480-pixel) video to
the phone.

"This updated version, due out in the second quarter of 2012 for a
list price of $299, offers a better HD camera at 1280x720 resolution, as
well as the ability to recognize and interact with shapes and colors
for an augmented reality (AR) “gaming mode,” which layers digital drone
obstacles and enemies atop the camera’s actual view of the real world.

"The new 2.0 AR.Drone also offers pilots a “traveling” mode, allowing
them to set the drone to automatically move and record in specific
directions for maximum stability and image quality. As in the case with
the Wi-Spi drones, the recorded video can be uploaded directly to the
Web."